Usernames and passwords of Yahoo email customers stolen

New York – Yahoo has stated that the usernames and passwords of some of its email customers that were recently stolen were used to gather names and email addresses of others who the affected users corresponded with recently. As reported by the Associated Press (AP), the company spoke of the security breach on Thursday, but did not say how many accounts were affected.

Yahoo Inc. is quoted as stating of its breach in a blog post, “The information sought in the attack seems to be names and email addresses from the affected accounts’ most recent sent emails.”

As noted in the report, the issue is stated to be the latest in a series of efforts by hackers to obtain personal information with the use of more sophisticated software.

Avivah Litan, a security analyst at the technology research firm Gartner, is quoted by the AP as stating of the matter, “It’s an old trend, but it’s much more exaggerated now because the programs the bad guys use are much more sophisticated now… We’re clearly under attack.”

Yahoo has stated that it is resetting the passwords on accounts that have been affected and is taking steps to block further attacks.